Livestock feed systems allow for large scale, simultaneous delivery of livestock feed from a central storage container to multiple animals, which may be housed in separate enclosures and buildings at a farm or other livestock management facility. Some conventional systems use an auger disposed in a feed path to move feed along the feed path toward one or more outlets. An auger can provide consistent and steady delivery of feed to livestock in a plurality of locations across a barn or other livestock facility.
In this regard, a conventional livestock feed system 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. A feed housing 12 stores a quantity of feed 14. The feed 14 is fed by gravity into a boot unloader 16 located at an end of a feed path 18. The feed path 18 extends into a building 20, such as a barn, and further into a plurality of feed outlets 22, 24, 26. Each of the plurality of feed outlets 22, 24, 26 then channels the feed 14 out of the feed path 18 and into one or more feed receptacles 28, 30, 32. A flexible auger 34 is disposed along the length of the feed path 18 and connects to a drive mechanism, such as an electric motor 36. The motor 36 rotates the auger 34 (clockwise in this example) such that a continuous coiled edge of the auger 34 moves feed along the feed path 18 from the boot unloader 16 to the feed outlets 22, 24, 26.
The conventional feed system 10 of FIG. 1 has a number of drawbacks. First, the conventional feed system 10 of FIG. 1 is only configured to accommodate a single feed boot unloader 16 located at the end of the feed path 18. Second, feed 14 tends to flow too quickly from the boot unloader 16 into the feed path 18, causing the feed path 16 to clog and jam in a number of different ways. For example, the feed 14 can become compressed inside and around the auger 34 so that the auger 34 is unable to rotate, thereby preventing the feed 14 from being moved forward along the feed path 18. An excess amount of feed 14 can also form a stationary blockage within the auger 34, which adheres to and rotates in place with the auger 34, thereby preventing additional feed 14 from being moved past the blockage toward the feed outlets 22, 24, 26. This problem is exacerbated when multiple boot unloaders are arranged in tandem along the feed path, because feed potentially flows into each downstream boot unloader from the respective housing as well as from the upstream feed path. Thus, when multiple boot unloaders are arranged in tandem along the feed path, each boot unloader has the potential to independently cause a blockage that prevents the entire feed system from operating. These and other drawbacks increase downtime of the feed system, and produce added expense for cleaning, unclogging, maintenance and repair.